Bipartisan Letter Asks About Imported Cooking Oil Scrutiny
A bipartisan letter from six senators is asking CBP and USDA to do more to verify that used cooking oil that is imported is truly used, and not blended with virgin palm oil. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the June 20 letter, with support from Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
The senators said they know that the prices for oilseeds are depressed for many reasons, but noted that there were 3 billion pounds of used cooking oil imported last year, compared with 200 million in 2020.
"As evidenced in recent news coverage, there is concern by some in the renewable fuels industry that large amounts of imported" used cooking oil may be a blend of that oil "with virgin vegetable oils such as palm oil, which is directly linked to deforestation in Southeast Asia. This would constitute fraudulent value distortion of the commodity designed to take advantage of U.S. tax incentives in addition to Renewable Identification Number (RIN) fraud under the RFS," or Renewable Fuel Standard, they wrote.
They noted that used cooking oil has a lower carbon intensity score than domestic biofuel feedstock. "The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," they wrote.
They asked:
- What actions are currently taken to determine the integrity of Chinese used cooking oil as a feedstock? Provide details on frequency and process for government audits.
- What percentage of shipments of used cooking oil are verified and validated? Are all verification records made readily available by the importer without specific investigation by CBP?
- If it is found that these imported products are being mislabeled as used cooking oil, how will the government ensure they are not beneficiaries of the Clean Fuel Production Credit?